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A comment on Is US Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra a Phony?. Parent comment

Re:Is US Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra a Phony? by edw519 on Wednesday August 12, 2009 @02:53PM (#758908)
...but do you actually know people that have had to deal with the city of Washington DC's bureaucracy?

Yes. My customer went out of business when the city of Washington, D.C. would not pay its 7 figure 180 day late bill. Their biggest mistake? Letting one deadbeat customer get too big.

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Re:Is US Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra a Phony? by DanielBMarkham on Wednesday August 12, 2009 @03:02PM (#758928)
I've always thought that if you really wanted to learn politics, take a look at these vendors who deal with government agencies all day long.

They make the average nationally-known slippery politician look like amateur night.

It's simply a survival skill at that level. Bunch of guys from one party in charge? You're their guy: you know all the people they do, you contribute to the right causes, you feel their pain, you attend all the social functions they do, etc.

Next party come to power? Hey -- you're their guy: you know all the people they do, you contribute to the right causes, etc.

And then there's the hands-on politicking you have to do in order to get contracts and payments and such. The guys that do that have a special kind of magic that the rest of us can only hope to have.

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